Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Rachel Brady and Kristina Rutherford: Toronto Mike'd #392

Episode Date: October 30, 2018

Mike chats with the Globe and Mail's Rachel Brady and Sportsnet's Kristina Rutherford about being women in sports media, the ever-changing responsibilities of authors and so much more.

she's gonna crack oh i love this one too has anyone ever cracked it open nice and light all the time really and if you do if you are gonna crack one open just please put it on the mic because it's the best sound in the world well it's noon it's past noon yeah Welcome to episode 392 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery located here in Etobicoke. Did you know, Rachel and Christina, that 99% of all Great Lakes beer remains here in Ontario? No. GLB.

Brewed for you, Ontario. And propertyinthesix.com. Toronto real estate done right. And Paytm, an app designed to manage all of your bills in one spot.

Download the app today from paytm.ca. And Census Design and Build, providing architectural design, interior design, and turnkey construction services across the GTA. I'm Mike from torontomike.com. And joining me is Rachel Brady from The Globe and Mail and Christina Rutherford from Sportsnet. Welcome. Hi, thanks.

Where are you coming from right now? Because you both, you were together before you came here. We had a girl's lunch at Huevos Gourmet, I believe, right in your local neighborhood.

That is super local yeah super local i'm gonna say like i'm gonna say lake shore and sixth or something like that yep it's that's like i you know would you believe i've never been but everybody says it's amazing i know well because i got little kids and they sucks to take little kids to restaurants yeah there was a baby at the restaurant but that's I think babies are easy because they're portable. When they get to that crappy stage for a couple years. Does your baby like poached eggs

because they have a lot of poached eggs in there with a Mexican flair? Scrambled only for my... Maybe not the place for you. Chicken fingers. Christina, we just met for the first time right now. You biked here.

So I need to ask you a couple of questions. How far away did you come from? Like how far did you bike to get here? Oh, not that far. I live in the junction, I guess. So a half hour. So may I ask your route that you took? Lakeshore.

The whole way. Okay, but how did you get yourself to Lakeshore? So I went down Runnymede. So interesting. Down Runnymede. No, actually, this is the nonsense I'm interested in. Oh, perfect. Me too.

It's all about the details. Down Runnymede and then down Ellis Avenue, which is where my childhood home is located. That's where rich people live. Oh my gosh. Not when I was a kid. Now they're rich, but before this was the suburbs, right? Everything was affordable. Art Eggleton lives near there. Oh, really?

I think so. Anyway, I just remembered, this is kind of sad, I guess. I had an orthodontist in Bloor West Village growing up who attempted murder-suicide. This was big news, okay?. This was big news. Obviously, it was big news. And he lived right in that same pocket there, that Ardegleton pocket,

right off Ellis. I always remember these rich people's houses. Oh, yeah. There's a couple offshoot streets off of Ellis. You have to go up a little hill, and then it's all mansions. Good Halloween trick-or-treating up there, actually. I bet. Full-size chocolate bars,or-treating up there, actually. I bet.

Full-size chocolate bars, full cans of pop. Yeah, yeah. I think I'm going to take the kids there. There you go. It's a little out of jurisdiction. She's already doing that, too. What a terrible way to start the podcast, but the terrible attempted murder-suicide.

So he failed to kill himself. He survived. He's alive today. He pled N uh, pled, uh, NCR, not criminally responsible. And so he was found,

um, NCR, not criminally responsible. So he's now like, he's out and he's, the weird thing is, cause, uh,

he was an orthodontist. Apparently there's a high, like suicide rate amongst like dentists and orthodontists. I've heard that actually. Yeah. Apparently it's like a real stressful thing or something, but he snapped and, uh and the jury believed it all. And there you go.

Wow. So on that note, thanks for coming. Rachel. Yes. I'm afraid now. How do you segue? Okay, let's see. Let's see what can I do here.

I know. What horrific thing can I follow? I did not ride my bike here. No, because you came from Ajax I sure did I need to tell the people right away In case they don't know I need to tell the listeners You're married to the mayor of Ajax

I don't think he's the mayor of Ajax He has a rather Loud personality there But I don't think so Okay the mayor of Ajax. He has a rather loud personality there, but I don't think so. Okay, so tell us who you're, who are you married to, Rachel Brady? I'm married to Greg Brady. Greg Brady from the Brady Bunch.

This is the oldest. A different one, actually. A different one, yeah. That would be predating my birth, I think, a little bit. That's true. Now, Greg Brady is, I want to say he's been on, Greg Brady is, I want to say

he's been on this show three times, I want to say. What took you so long to get the better Brady on the show? Actually, I went to,

I'll tell you the story. I didn't, I didn't know there was a better Brady. Like, I just didn't really know. I know I'm not, not with it. Head in the sand.

Yeah. And then, I'm at a Toronto Wolf. Christina, do you know who the Wolfpack are? I do know who they are, yeah. Very entertaining, I've heard.

I've never seen a game live, but I need to go. Next summer. Next summer. I still can't believe we lost that million pound match. Like, I still kind of haunted by it. I didn't even know it existed until very recently, and now I'm upset. It's really a tragic, it's a crazy end to it.

I think it actually makes the story better for next year. Well, here's why I don't necessarily agree with you because they changed the rules, right? Like it was the top four in this level would meet the bottom four from the Super League. Yeah. And then you had a hell thing. That's

over now. Now it's just one up, one down. So we have to finish first now to go up right so i feel like the wind how was the moment is steeper yeah yeah for the most fascinating i believe the most fascinating sports property in in the city is that you're just further their story is like crazy and they offer something that's totally different from anybody else like there's that is not an MLSC production or anything you're going to see at Rogers Center like it's just a really neat button down cool afternoon affordable yeah and your kids are going to come away with

tons of autographs and there's just not it's not a realistic experience to take your kids anywhere else and expect them to get a shirt full of interviews in this day and age and professional sports. And that's pretty cool. And Rachel, I've seen your, I've seen your kids running on the field. Oh, my kids own that place. They literally, I've never had my kids say, can we be season ticket holders somewhere? Yeah. They've definitely run every inch of the stadium and probably have autographs from everybody. And yeah, they've had fun there. So I've only been to a couple of matches, but at a match, I was there with Hebsey, Mark Hebsey.

Because Hebsey and Greg, do they have a bromance going on? A little bit, yeah. They are doing some international travel in a few weeks. I hear the stories because twice a week, Mark Hebsey sits in that seat right there

where Christina is. And we do record his podcast, but then also you know shoot the shit and he's telling me all about his yeah bromantic plans of greg yeah transatlantic speaking of because that's what uh the wolf pack does they do transatlantic stuff right no and And your husband is doing so with more capture. And they're going to... They're going to England together just for a boys trip. Yeah. To see soccer. To watch soccer.

There's not that many people that want to go do that with Greg. They don't have a lot of diversity. Yeah. Well, I'm glad they found each other. Yeah. It's really nice. And I'm kind of jealous. I don't know.

You didn't get invited. I feel like you want to get invited on this trip. I have a tiny... I'm not even sure I would go, except I kind of like. I don't know. You didn't get invited. I feel like you want to get invited on this trip. I have a tiny... It's not too late. I'm not even sure I would go, except I kind of like the idea of being asked. I think you're making that happen right now. Right?

No, now... Because now it would be forced. Like, it's too late. Oh, it's too late? But now I would feel like they're only doing it because I cried on... Because you said it publicly. Which is true.

Episode 392 here. But okay, so where was I going? Oh, yeah. So I'm at Wolfpack with Hebsey and then Greg Brady's there and he's been here a few times and he kicked out the jams here and everything. Did you listen to Greg

Brady kicking out the jams? I didn't. Wow. I didn't listen to him. She listens to him enough, I think. I do listen to him a lot. It's hard to keep up. But this is Greg Brady. He sent me a list of his 10 favorite songs of all time all i'm sure i've probably seen all of those people in concert with him probably i play the song and then greg tells us he tells me he tells the the listening audience

like why does he love that song we learn a lot about him. It was really kind of an insight into the real Greg Brady. I'm sure Hebsey listened multiple times. Are you jealous of Hebsey? Maybe I'll make him a playlist for the flight over to... A mixtape. For his Sony Walkman. So I met Rachel

very briefly, but I met Rachel at the Wolfpack match. And then I learned oh, this is the better Brady. Like, I've been... Like, I need to make this happen. I didn't realize I made such an impression. But here's what I noticed. So I reached out to Rachel and I said, do you want to come on?

I'd like to have you on. And Rachel's like, only if I can bring a friend. Because Rachel's clearly not sure she should come over. No, that wasn't it. Christina and I bring out the best. Oh, definitely.

So, tell us how you guys know each other. Let's start with that. Okay. We met covering the 2010 Olympics. I can't believe. So, we met nine years ago. At least.

Right? Yeah. Almost. Would have been 2009. Yeah. That nine years? Yeah. Good math.

So I was a late joiner to the digital team. We were writing for ctvolympics.ca. Is that right? Yeah. Yeah. We were part of this consortium um and somebody on the team had gone to decided to go to teacher's college or something opened up a spot and it was maybe four months out from the olympics so basically for me it was a job that would send me to the

olympics but i had to travel to Scarborough every day to aging court, to this office. And it's at that office that I met Ray Brady. Ray. Ray Ray. Ray Ray. I like that. Or Ray Bray. I was probably a couple months in before Ray Bray got on. Is your, Rachel, is your recollection the same? Is that pretty much how it went down? It's pretty spot on.

I did forget that she was a late addition to the great team. This is one of those, like, there was a lot of pretty cool people that worked with us on this really cool one time like i don't know that that will ever happen again where they'll um like a broadcaster will just decide let's put like hundreds and hundreds of people together and their only job is going to be to think about covering the olympics for the short period of like this short contract. And we're just going to send everyone. And I mean, that was the power of having an Olympics inside Canada. And, um, we had a lot of great people who also was on it. Mark Masters was on

our group and a lot of guys that ended up at a hockey night in Canada. Oh, such a cool group of people. And it was, uh, Mike Fleury, just personalities. personalities. Amazing personalities. Katie Rook. Katie Rook. We all went on to really cool so we've all gone on to really cool jobs and we get to still bump into each other and see each other around. And we were roommates I should also say in Vancouver. True. And there was only two

to a room? Yeah. And it really like I think we got the very last hotel on the list because we were in Richmond, BC. So we had, after you work these insane hours, we had to take the train out to Richmond every night for a month. We were there for a month.

I mean, I only watched on TV, but what an amazing, like almost like you scripted it the way that unfolded the 2010 Olympics were pretty amazing. Like there must've been lots of great stories there. It was a flashpoint, I think, for Canadian sports.

I don't remember this attitude of Canada's great and has tons of confidence and we're world leaders in sport. And I think that was not like a sea change. I think people think of Canada now as dominant in a number of

sports. And maybe they always were, but the attitude now that we're contenders in everything. So many gold medals. Yeah, who coined the phrase own the podium? Probably Rachel. Is that you, Rachel? Ray Ray? Sorry. Can I call you Ray Ray or just Christina?

You can. Sure you can. Or just one Ray. I think she prefers just Ray. Ray. You can call one Ray. I think she prefers just Ray. Ray. You can call me Ray. That's why she brought me. But yeah, on the podium, and we had the most gold medals. It was amazing.

And the way it ended, too. I mean, Stephen Brunt's been on, and we talked about his essay, because it's sort of like this iconic essay. But that essay was done before Crosby scores the golden goal. Like, you could you could argue like the whole thing was in the can celebrating the sea change as you said uh and it was all done before what i think was the like the moment the big moment didn't even happen yet because there were so many and we had like we all had different sports

while we're there you weren't like sliding right right? You were doing sliding. The best gig ever. I was doing over in 10 minutes and then I could go watch events live. Like I didn't see a single sliding event in person. The only events I saw live were the ones I wasn't covering. Can I ask, is that Skeleton and stuff like that? Yeah.

Skeleton, Loosh, Bobsleigh. Is that the guy, the guy, the beer, who's the guy who drank the beer after he was born? Yeah, John Montgomery. so that's his thing that's his thing that's another one of those moments like yeah yeah absolutely yeah and we saw because we we were in ctv's like broadcast center we saw every medalist come in and i

remember like one of our managers said at the end like you don't realize like you guys were in a really unique position to see every single medalist come in to do their interview in their finest, you know, maybe the best moment of their lives coming in. So it was a neat vantage point. But then where do you go from there? Like, the only thing is you kind of,

you cover that, whatever, it's two weeks and it's like, whoa, bananas. But then it's, the rest of your life is a letdown, right? Like, it's... It's all been downhill since then. Like, we're eight years out and it's like, of your life is a letdown right like it's uh it's all been downhill since then like we're eight years out and it's like you can't get that high again like you need you need to get that high back but how do you get that no we well we were both in london two years later right yes we were both in london two years later you just have to wait two years

yeah between highs and then there'll be another one there'll always be another that's one thing you like you feel like you just covered the biggest thing and then there'll be another one. There'll always be another. That's one thing you, like, you feel like you just covered the biggest thing and then there'll always be another biggest thing that comes along a little bit. There's always a bigger fish. There is.

People only, you know, you always remember but you never, you don't feel it for that long and it always kind of passes and there's always

another big event. Okay, so let's find out a little bit more about your professional lives here. Okay, so we talked about. So let's, uh, find out a little bit more about your professional lives here. Like, okay. So we talked about the Olympics, but Rachel, uh, Ray, uh, Rachel, I like Rachel. Rachel's a nice name. She likes that, I think. She wants me to call her Rachel, I can tell. Sounds a little bit more professional. Rachel Brady. Uh, okay. So you're with the Globe

and Mail, uh, and you're, so Globe and Mail. That's correct. Just tell us a little bit, maybe, if you don't mind, tell us how did you end up at the Globe and Mail? It's a prestigious publication. I guess indirectly from the CTV gig, because I started my career in Michigan, and I worked in Michigan for 10 years and covering basketball and Michigan football and all kinds of stuff there, Detroit's teams and stuff. And then we came back in 2008 just in time for that consortium to start being built.

But it was only an 18-month position, right, because the Olympics was going to come and go. And then they weren't going to need all that massive group of people anymore. So one of the groups that we were partnered with in the consortium was the Globe and Mail. And so I just made a lot of really great contacts from that, um, experience, um, being in, in, uh, Vancouver and sure enough, a football writer's job was coming open and, uh, I got it and, um, it has morphed. I guess I still write a little bit of football, but it's morphed quite a bit since I started there in 2011. So now I cover all kinds of different things, including the Raptors, but I still do some football. And I mean, one of the, there's not a lot of criticism of Greg, but one of the things that I received, where is this going? This is what you're wondering. But it's too much Detroit sports talk. This is what people tell me.

Too much Detroit stuff. So is this where you met? Yes, we did. We met. We were both very young reporter producers in our jobs, both gathering tape at a press conference. The sports information, like the athletic director at Michigan, it's a massive university, obviously, massive sports program,

was being let go. And they had a massive press conference, like 200 people. And these two Canadian people both end up sitting in the front row beside each other and chatting. And, yeah, so we chatted there. But we're both from London, Ontario. Is that right? Yeah, we met there, but we're both from London, Ontario.

That's crazy. Love at first sight? No, second sight. Tenth. No, second or third, maybe. I don't know. I didn't think of it that way, I guess, at first. He's great, isn't he?

Oh, I like the guy. I like the guy. Christina, do you like Greg Brady? I'm a huge fan. I'm a big fan. Because he asked me to make this episode about him. The whole Brady family. Oh, my gosh.

He would do that. He would do that. Yeah, no, great guy. All right, Christina, I've never met you till today, so I have some catching up to do with you here. Oh, yeah. But I am already like, I already like you because you biked here. You're the third Toronto Mike's guest to bike here.

392. I got a lot of episodes, right? That is a lot. For you to be number three. Like, I feel like I'm, because I, I'm like a. There's a bike right here. I bike every day. Me too.

I did 30K yesterday. And like, I'm always biking. Oh, along the lake shore? I do. I mix it up. But I like to do the waterfront trail for did 30K yesterday. I'm always biking. Oh, along the lakeshore? I do. I mix it up, but I like to do the Waterfront Trail for sure because I'm on it right now. So I'll take it. Sometimes I'll take it to like one Yonge Street and then bounce back or I go to Port Credit. But I like the Humber Trail.

So I'll take the Waterfront Trail to the Humber Bridge and then I'll cut up north and take the Humber Trail to like James Gardens. I like to go to James Gardens and then loop back. So this isn't just commuting. You're just biking for fun. Oh, no. I don't commute. I work here. Right. This is it. James Gardens. I like to go to James Gardens and then loop back. So this isn't just commuting. You're just biking for fun. Oh no, I don't commute. I work here. Like that's, I know.

I'm done. My commute is like I drop the kids off at kindergarten and then I roll back home and make coffee and my commute's over. No commute. I do this for like to be out in the world and to like get some exercise. Yeah, it's kind of the best way to travel, right?

I beat cars everywhere all the time. Yeah. Like I beat Ray here from brunch. I believe that. And I could have totally torched her. I'm not sure that counts. It counts. From six, yeah.

300 meters away. And you're in the junction. And tell us a little bit. So you're at Sportsnet now. Yes. Give us your little bio here. Okay. I started at the Oakville Beaver,

a small community newspaper right out of school, and then went to CBC Sports for a little bit, and then this is like a terrible Wikipedia entry I'm giving you. Anyway, went to the consortium to cover the Olympics and then got quite addicted to the Olympics. And after that, I went back to CBC. I worked for Score Golf Magazine with some

beauties, including Jason Logan, who you should have on your show. He's great. He's the editor. He's a golf guy? Yeah, golf guy. It's like a big blind spot for me. Yeah, yeah yeah he'll help you uh and then i think i went back to cbc like i didn't really have a job a full-time one-ish and then sportsnet magazine started that was really exciting because i always kind of dreamt

of working for you know i got sports right this is when they actually like printed this on paper the glory days it I remember these days. It was like Christmas every week. Yeah, so I started with the magazine, and that would be seven years ago. And then they killed the magazine, and I still have a job, which is nice. So basically you write for Sportsnet.ca?

Yes, that's it. That's the place where we go to see Christina Rutherford's prose? Yeah, and we still do long-form stuff. Is that the place where we go to see Christina Rutherford's prose? Yeah. And we still do long form stuff. So we have big reads every week, sometimes twice a week on Sundays, definitely. And sometimes also Wednesdays where you get like a meteor long read. Amazing. Amazing.

And I guess I want to name the two other people who biked here because i just want like just for like a trivial reasons you know what i mean very curious i know you guys are both saying they're like when is he gonna name yeah i just want to know christina's like when is he gonna tell me the other two people who banked here okay so here they're right first person to bike here was i have to pronounce her name right it's very polish but you ready for this i know who it is sophia yorkstewich that's correct uh we went to the only polish woman in sports media that's possible and i know that she loves riding her bike and her dad was my math teacher you know my son is well my son and daughter my first son my first daughter are both at humberside Collegiate as we speak.

Really? Okay. Because they're in the French immersion program. That's actually the closest French immersion high school to here, which is kind of ridiculous. That is ridiculous. Public school, I mean, yeah. Yeah.

But yeah, so Jeff Merrick, who also works in sports, also went to Humberside. Talks about Mr. J and being the best teacher he ever had. Yes, he was the nicest guy. And I was so bad at math. I remember when I realized that I wasn't going to go to like business school or something. I did not need math. And so I went to the exam.

I think he was my calculus teacher. I did not need that. And I was so bad at it also. I went to the exam and instead of filling out the exam, like writing it, I wrote him a long note about how I really appreciated that he tried to teach me math, but it just wasn't in me. And that I was dropping his class.

Wow. But he graded my exam. And then my next report card came and I had like a 48 in calculus. And then I dropped it. But he appreciated it. Really nice guy. He did his best. You can't,

you know, sometimes you just can't make it work. Some people are unreachable. I feel like he probably tells that story. That story, I thought he was probably

like this, stupid. He still wanted me to keep going in the class. I was going to say, I thought that story had a different ending to be honest.

No. And then I turned my life around and went to business school. And you became a math major. Yeah. Yeah. Instead you got 48 and dropped out

you should probably like change that story not tell that story and then she found her real career but he's he's really nice is the thing

and a good teacher I hear nothing but good things but his daughter's nice too and she's also kicked out the jams and I say that because at the very end

of this episode we're not kicking out the jams but we're gonna play each of you are kicking out a jam a singular jam oh yeah so you'll hear it and we'll talk no spoilers because everyone's gonna spend the next hour wondering what what did rachel and christina pick as their jam so it's very exciting and i got

a whole i'm very excited about both jams but rachel's especially which will make more sense when you hear it okay so sophia is your skovich your switch your skovich i? Your skvich? I might be ruining that, too. I'm not sure. But now that I think, so you went to Humberside, and you came from the Junction right now, so you still live at home, don't you? Yes. My parents' basement. No, I don't, but thank you.

But in the same hood. Similar hood. Yeah, similar hood. Just north. I did move to the east end for a year, and it just felt weird. Like east of Yonge? Yes, exactly. Oh, no, no. You don't do that. What are the streets over there? You and it just felt like east of young yes exactly like what are the streets i might end up in ajax yeah exactly it was a lovely neighborhood leslieville

great spot but all my friends and family live out here so it was like i was living in a different province i i just did a podcast in east york uh o'connor i don't even know the streets like i really am like it's like a whole different place o'Connor and like it's near the, I would say it's not far from that farm. Everybody, the famous. Oh yeah. What's the farm called? I never went there. I took the kids there once.

It was nice. Okay. Anyway, so this is East York. And I biked there, which was a whole thing because it was like further than I expected. Because I'm not used to the Don Valley Trail. Like I'm a Humber Trail, Waterfront Trail guy. And guy i'm on the down valley trail and i wasn't sure i was supposed to get off at uh something called oh you know i can't remember now uh these names i don't even know the name but anyway long so i'm there and i don't know these streets and i actually had

to go on google maps to figure out like what's my exit on this trail like i don't know where i'm like where's o'connor like i didn't i just didn't know and i'm like i was born and raised in the city and i feel like I'm in some foreign land. It's east of Yonge. East and west. But I'm good on the south part. Right.

I mean the Portland's kind of thing and the Ashbridge's Bay stuff, like all that kind of stuff. The beaches type area. Right, beaches, I'm good. But when you get a little north

on the east of Yonge, I'm gone. It's confusing. I'm going to stick to this. Okay, so I'm sorry. So Christina, very interesting.

Very fascinating stuff there. She forgot the part where she played like girls hockey in the city. Well, why don't you tell me that part here

while we get to know you and then we're going to talk about some issues. You played. Where did you play? Oh, can I guess?

Swansea Hockey Association. Yes. Yeah. My boy played house league there. I played there, by the way. Oh,

yeah. Outdoor. It's so awesome. It's the biggest outdoor league in the world, I think. Or did I make that up? I think the girls league at least is the oldest in the world. Oldest girls hockey. I might have made that up too.

Either way, great league. You learn how to not have cold feet while you're playing. I liked it. I liked it. It's also much less expensive than these indoor arenas where they have longer seasons and it costs a lot more money. It's still under $200 for the girls league and it's so

unique in that you can be 6 and 18 and on the same team because there's fewer girls playing. Wait, but that's a big difference. I know. 6 and 18? So they have three lines. It teaches you some interesting habits because each line goes on for three minutes. So if you're on the first line.

Oh, then everyone turns off? And then everybody comes off. They do that when they're young and house sleep. Yes. So you have all the youngest kids and then the middle kids and then the oldest kids on three separate shifts. And so like all my babysitters growing up were from the Swansea Hockey League. My parents loved it.

It's like a factory of babysitters. My oldest daughter who's 14, I put her in Timbits. And I liked it because the parents, like I was allowed on the ice too. And the Timbit was amazing. You can practice. Yeah, it was great. And after the first year of Timbits, I was like, oh, we're going to do it again. And she's like, Daddy, I don't really want to do hockey anymore.

She's like, I want to dance or whatever. And by the way, she quit hockey. It broke my heart because my oldest is still playing. We have a game tomorrow night. But now my four-year-old is going to Rennie Park, Swansea Hockey Association

for Learn to Skate. Yes. That starts on December 1st. Okay. So I'll probably be there because my nephew. Will you be an instructor there? Yeah.

I'm usually on the ice. My nephew's in that program and my niece was in it last year and now she's doing the Learn to Play Hockey. But it's great. We're a Mr. J away from the Holy Trinity. This would be amazing.

Let's go to one more. We should get him on here. You know, the first time Sophia came on, she sadly told me he had just had a heart attack, but then the second time she came on, I asked, and she said he's doing much better. Okay, good. That's how you tell a story.

Start sad, but make it better. Yeah. He's doing much better. Okay, good. That's how you tell a story. Start sad, but make it better. At the end, he's doing much better now. Good. Can I ask about Sportsnet Magazine, since you brought it up there? It existed. It was exciting because it was actual paper, like a magazine, like we're used to.

And then they made it digital only? Is that what they did? Tell me how they transitioned that out. And I kind of thought it was still around in digital form only. A lot of people think that. I think the press release maybe made it seem like it was going digital only. But there's no, I mean, we had all these sections in the magazine. There's no, it doesn't exist anymore in any form.

We are still doing these meaty features, as I said, which was kind of like what made the magazine amazing, in my opinion. Yeah, the long form. The long form stuff. Yeah, different from what you get, you know, in most sports publications. So we're still doing that, but the magazine is dead.

Yeah, that's too bad. I mean, it did come, I know it's sad because, I don't know maybe i'm from maybe i'm old and like i remember like i loved getting my sports illustrated in the mail and my rolling stone like i had him and spy versus spy just you know is that a boy thing i don't know you can't you can't give it like a football phone with your subscription remember that and the yeah they always had the vhs cassette they'd send you that had like the they would put music to the like montages of music with the plays

i still remember elton john's rocket man and i think uh dan marino whatever throwing the ball and rocket man it was like you know that's that stuff was we didn't have the internet back then this was a big deal yeah to get this on vhs maybe that's why sportsnet didn't have the internet back then. This was a big deal to get this on VHS. Maybe that's why Sportsnet didn't survive ultimately. Not enough giveaways. Or if Rodgers just unplugged the internet, it would be, you know what I mean? It would thrive. They'd have no choice.

Yeah. I want to give you guys a gift. Well, Ray came a long way. She gets a gift for sure. Christina, I'm still thinking. Did you come far enough? I biked here and it's kind of raining. She biked.

How's she even going to carry that? It's kind of raining. It is kind of raining. I brought a backpack, luckily. No, good for you come far enough? I biked here and it's kind of raining. She biked. How is she even going to carry that beer home? It is kind of raining. I brought a backpack, luckily. No, good for you. I'm glad you biked here. But in front of you, each of you get a six pack of Great Lakes beer. Amazing.

Hold your applause, okay? Thank you. Thank you. And Christina, when you first came down to the wonderful TMDS studio, you saw something on the wall. Mm-hmm. Octopus wants to fight IPA. I have a poster on the wall.

And what did you tell me? I said, that's my favorite beer. And what did I say? Ray, what did I say? You're about to have one and you might crack it on the air.

No, I said that's my favorite. Oh, that's right. I forgot that part. Weren't you taking notes? So, you have a six pack.

There should at least be one Octopus wants to fight. I see it. Yes. And you could trade me. It's a little pack. There should at least be one octopus wants to fight. I see it. Yes. And you could trade me. It's a little lukewarm. Do you want me to run up to the fridge and get you a cold one? No, no.

You guys can talk amongst yourselves. Okay, no. We need somebody to guide this conversation or it'll get so far off the rails. We'll just be talking straight when it's hockey. Enjoy. Enjoy because it's yours. Thank you. And those guys have a Christmas market

on December 8th. If that's a Saturday? I think so. Yes. December 8th is their Christmas market. So people put in your calendar to get to Great Lakes Brewery. They're on Queen Elizabeth Boulevard which is near the Costco, which is near Royal York and Bloor. Yeah. Royal York and Queensway. Which is near here. Which is near here. Yes. And not Royal York and Bloor. No, yeah, Royal York and Queensway.

Which is near here. Which is near here, yes. And not too far from you, actually. We'll give Ray a pass. That's a long drive for craft beer, but it's in LCBO. Could be a nice family trip. Greg enjoys his Great Lakes.

He does. They're a big feature at the parties we've had in the old ping pong basement at our house, yeah. There you go. We give those out. Enjoy. And another sponsor of this show is Brian Gerstein.

He's a real estate sales representative with PSR Brokerage, and he's recorded a question for you. And we're going to listen to Brian. Wow. I'm nervous. Don't be nervous. Because he's not really here.

He's recorded this. Here you go. Here's Brian. He recorded a question. Propertyinthe6.com Hi, Rachel and Christina. this. Here you go make an informed decision. Curious how both of you have navigated your way around the locker rooms for post-game interviews, and has it been without incident, or are there any tales to tell?

He brings the heat. Has it been without incident? You know what I think that's alluding to? Ann Romer came on this show. Do we know who Ann Romer is? Oh, my heart's breaking. She doesn't know who Ann Romer is. Okay, well, she was like a city TV.

You're all too young. You're too young. City TV sports reporter in like the mid 80s. But she came on and talked about going into the Maple Leaf Dressing Room at Maple Leaf Gardens. And she's talked openly and honestly about the enormity of borscht salmone schlong yeah wow those were different different times for sure um he's so disappointed i know he's like no this is brian's question leave me out of this sports reporters i don't have any egregious uh tales to tell us yeah today's like people do we get asked this probably

like do you i get this asked this a lot and people do seem disappointed when we don't have anything super salacious to make something up but um i i feel like a i'm not the only woman in there like we're not like i'm almost never the only woman going in at one time. But the only thing I can remember, and this isn't even a terrible story, but it was just a sign of the times is when I used to cover, when I worked in Ann Arbor and I covered the university of Michigan basketball team, it was customary for them to yell woman in the locker room.

Any time a female was coming in and I was like, Oh yeah, that's just what has to happen. That's true. Is that to warn guys to cover up? Is what exactly yeah they wanted these guys who were like basically being just the age of like 18 and 23 years old because they're not getting paid and like robe on or something right or like clean i don't know what they wanted if they wanted them to clean up their language or what it was who knows um but they wanted them warned that uh that a female was coming in um and i just used to roll with that.

I'm like, yep, that seems about right. And now I'd be like, that's odd. It's a bit weird. Like if that ever happened now. And that would never happen now. Can I ask, flip it over, like let's say a male is covering Team Canada's hockey team or something like that.

Are they even allowed to? No, because women do it. I don't want to say that. Women's hockey is the way that probably all locker rooms should be. Because women do it. Women's hockey is the way that probably all locker rooms should be. They don't do it in the locker room. They do it in the hallway. Why is anyone, like it's never made sense to me.

Why do we need to be in there? Why don't they come out so we're not in their space? All they have to do is talk to us on the way into the room. Like have a scrum outside the room. And that's how they do it at the Olympic Games. You have to go through what's called a mix zone on the way into the room. Like have a scrum outside the room. And that's how they do it at the Olympic Games. You have to go through what's called a mix zone on the way to your dressing room space. Are they just really lazy?

No, for whatever reason, they always want to check their phones, take their shower, have their post-game conversation, sometimes go upstairs and shoot some hoops, list some weights, whatever. I don't know why they draw it out as much as they do, some players. I get that you want to, like, digest the game

and maybe not be hot-headed about something that happened or didn't. You want to take a breath. But wouldn't it just be better if they just did it on the way by and then had it over with? And then you can have your shower and leisure without someone standing at your stall waiting for you to get changed. And it's kind of awkward, actually. I was talking to a colleague about this You can have your shower and leisure without someone standing at your stall waiting for you to get changed. And it's kind of awkward, actually.

I was talking to a colleague about this who doesn't do a lot of game coverage. And he was talking about covering a Raptors game and how all the media were standing in the middle of the locker room. And then he went over to talk to I forget who. And he thought he was getting a one-on-one. And suddenly he felt like the warmth of all the tv lights on his back and everybody crowded around so everybody was kind of waiting until it was the appropriate moment and the question is like when is the appropriate moment because yeah I don't really see it you know you have to feel it out it is really tough because and the answer to that is that it's the player, it's the player's decision almost. Like if the player is like, he will decide whether or not he wants to be in every, you

know, have literally have his jacket zipped up and his shoes tied and his earring in and his necklace on and then may, you know, it's up to them. Sometimes you can just walk up to gun. He's casual enough that, that it's cool. Um, but especially the Raptors room is small enough that like everyone knows what you're doing in there a baseball clubhouse is different because it's bigger and you can mull around a bit but the raptors room is small yeah like there's not a lot of private conversations to be had in there maybe a bit of this could be like a power move

right like just like oh yeah you come to me because i'm the shit or whatever you know like well yeah they know that they sort of call their shots. And also, too, if they know a camera is going to follow them over, they don't usually want to be with a shirt on, I guess. And maybe that's a team rule. But some guys will talk to you a little bit casually. But until they've – almost no one will talk to you before they've had their shower. I don't know if that's – do you find that in some sports?

I don't know. Hockey hockey i don't think they shower yeah they just kind of take off the top stuff like their shoulder pads and their jersey and then put a hat on and look at the floor and then 100 people hoard around and they straight facedly tell you that they scored a big goal but it was my team or whatever they tell you right okay so is there any good quote left like from pros like professional athletes like does anyone deliver good quotes anymore aren't they all pretty like media trained and like it's all pretty they are but I tell you it's really hard to get

them in a scrum like scrums have become very they're so big now they're like enormously unwieldy, actually. And people are literally, reporters are literally tweeting out what the athlete says as they're saying it in a lot of cases. And so it's not surprising that you want to scale that back and maybe not be too crazy. Or maybe you want to be completely over the top in what you say, right?

But it's harder and harder to gather that stuff in the middle of those crowds. I find if you want something great, you have to ask a good, sometimes you have to ask a good question to get something good and you need to do it when you have a little bit of time on your own with not 30 people there. Yeah, you kind of, at least my approach is to wait until the scrum kind of leaves and then hey do you have another couple seconds minutes can i ask you a couple more and then you might get because it's also kind of awkward to ask maybe a question that's not about the game that just happened in a scrum like if i'm doing a feature on somebody and i want to know about their childhood it's not the time

you're going to drop that question in because everybody will probably think that's a big waste of their time right you know so if you wait it out there are good quotes to be had for sure you just have to pick your spots you also don't want to mind them like those are the ones that you're not going to see in tv unless they're like bold predictions of we are not going to lose this series or something that stuff that's going to run on sports center but you you want to save those ones for when the cameras aren't around especially if you're writing a feature that's not going to run for another week because someone's going to tweet it out before it's out of the guys spoiler alert like so someone's going to use it before you can get to it so you don't really want

to ask it in those scenarios oh that's that's a good point let me ask you rachel about the globe and males like their paywall strategy here okay so kevin mcgrann was in last week and we were talking about the toronto stars like because they've kind of flip-flopped a few times here but now they're asking i think it's like 15 bucks a month or something to and now they make you register like you can't in the olden days remember you could like clear your cash and kind of get a new set a new set of like free articles without having to used to get around the paywall really easily and now you can't and i guess my do you like can you can you remind can you remind us like uh i wish that i could but i like what is do you know the current you know i don't spend a lot of time like looking at the

paper from a reader like a an online reader perspective and i probably should spend like it's a great point like i really should because someone will say i went to you tweeted out that story that you wrote about the cfl and cannabis or something like who knows well yeah i'm gonna ask you about in a minute um like i'm just using that one as that's not even an example of this but any story that and they might say but it was behind the paywall and i live in you know michigan and i follow you but i don't subscribe or something i don't know um so i i'm i never quite know what might be behind the paywall on a given and i don't know quite who makes that decision but it's not me so you're not like okay so just because it's fresh in my head when kevin mcgrann was talking he's at point now, and he said this straight up on my show,

that he's only writing stories about four Maple Leafs right now because they have like super analytics on like... Oh, interesting. And he's like, if he writes a great story about... Anderson, Frederick Anderson, who's the starting goaltender for the Toronto Maple Leafs, no interest. But if he writes a story about Austin Matthews or John Tavares

or Mitch Marner or Nylander, and he says almost kind of Morgan Rielly, but not even really. So he's got the big four, and he's only writing about those four guys because that's what gets traction. And he said to me that, for example, he said, when we write about the CFL,

no one in Toronto has any interest. And they see this now, right? With their login mechanism. With the analytics, for sure. And no one has told me don't write about that person or whatever. But if I pitch something, you might see this too. Like when I pitch something, they may say no thanks. But that doesn't happen to...

I think I have a pretty good measure now or a good mind for what they're gonna say yes and and no to um i can't i have to say though i can't go in and just pitch any old thing on the cfl it's got to be it's got to be like good punchy it's gonna be about weed we need cannabis stories this is uh this is what we're all hungry for come on stories. This is what we're all hungry for. Come on. It's very true. I think she's jonesing for some right now. Oh, definitely. Are you carrying?

It's legal now, you know. You don't have to hide it anymore. What's your policy in this house? Everyone else seems to have a policy. No smoking in the house because it's bad for the children's lungs and it's bad for my lungs. I wouldn't let any smoke anything in the house. I just don't think that's a good idea. Go outside and have your smoke.

Everyone needs to have a policy now that October 17th. But you can go in my backyard with me. And if you want to smoke a fatty, I'm all fine with it. I'll see you later. I'll tell you what. I was the most unusual choice to write that story. And they asked me several months ago to look into it. Why were you unusual?

Can I guess? Because you're straight edge. Never in my life have I, have I ever tried... But not even Bill Clinton style, I didn't inhale. No, and I'm being dead honest. And I think I was a university hockey player when I first got to Carleton

and they did tell us, you know, you'd be drug tested and all this stuff. Not that I was super interested because I'm like pretty square, but I was super scared that i would be tested and kicked off oh the field hockey team because the second hand maybe no for for partaking and even though you don't partake no i don't so i never did that's called paranoia i know you don't believe me but i'm no i No, I believe you. I believe you. I really have never...

But this... I got a square vibe from you. I was actually... I'm very square. It's a joke. So I felt like I was the worst choice to write that story. But because I have such an actual curiosity... I was going to say you would ask the best questions.

About it. I probably like ask some kind of naive questions. And people really like to talk about it. You would have no assumptions. Yeah. You would go in like, what about it you would have no assumptions like you would go in like oh so what does it feel like when you're high well i didn't have asked it that naively if i asked it but i um but i would ask things like what does that actually do for for you as a football player and and it became very clear that they it was not performance enhancing

in any way um but i i understood it no i would think it's the opposite right uh and i don't i don't partake either surprise but i would think like i would think that would work against the the intensity and fire and the belly required to be a competitive football player i would think pot would be yeah and it's not even about that it's about the recovery right and every athlete that's curious about it will tell you that now that, um, they don't, you know, a lot of them may not sleep well, or they've got anxieties about performing in the field or their next contract or retiring or whatever it is. Um, or they don't sleep well because they've got muscle soreness. And so it's about, um, unwinding and pain relief, or they don't sleep well cause I've got muscle soreness. And so it's about, um, unwinding and

pain relief or they've all got their own different reasons. Right. And, and CBD has just become, it's like anything, right? There, there's so many trends that go through sport. And when, once one guy says, Hey, this is great. Like word starts to spread through a locker room and then everybody wants to try it. And, and now the, I think just a lot of the barriers and the stigmas are, are being removed from it. And, um, I was actually amazed that over the span of time that I worked on this story about how much easier the conversation got for people. I had a lot of, Oh, no, thanks. I don't really want to go on the record about that. Sorry. At the beginning and to like, sure. What do you want to know by the end?

How long did you work on that story um on and off for about two months um but not consistently every day or anything but um but it was like it was interesting the way the conversation changed and people yeah i know i mean i noticed it too like and i think that was the whole idea was to remove some of this like stigmatization or like this this whole notion like oh the stoner who's going nowhere and eating cheetos in his basement and playing video games all day or whatever like that there are there are like let's face it and this is where like if i ever did suffer from something like if i i know arthritis or something and i and i i would try if cbds if my doctor tells

me that would help in some way i would be totally for using it for medicinal purposes like instead of taking a whole bunch of big like pharmaceuticals and different drugs that are effing up my kidneys or whatever well especially look at some of the drugs these guys have to take in all these sports right like where you're whether it's hockey or football like you don't want to be on those some of those really powerful painkillers and then yeah it's not good for your yeah yeah they have side effects and things yeah not good for your stomach and all these different for sure so they you know and it's if it can kind of create some longevity no who knows the research isn't 100 there either either right so these guys might be taking it and and

perceiving that they see these things and i'm sure they do, but there's not a lot of clinical research yet, but there will be. I mean, it started, right? Like for sure, everybody, all the alumni associations are way into that now.

And I think there's going to be some research pretty, like pretty soon published and there'll be stuff out there. And the main thing there is that if you're in the CFL today and you're smoking weed, they're not, they're not testing for it, right? They've never tested for it.

They've never tested for it. They've never tested for it. So it's always been part of the culture. Yeah, absolutely. It's part of the culture here on Toronto Mics as well. Of course. But only in the backyard. There's a smoke spot out there. Okay, so Christine, I'm only pushing you aside for a moment

because sportsnet.ca, it's all free, right? There's no paywall of any nature there. I can read your stuff anytime i want yeah you're very lucky that way it's all free and uh uh but i'm curious so there is a you do have a monthly subscription to access all of the global mail stuff unlimited and you probably get x free articles a month or something before you hit this paywall you should know this stuff i know it you know what i i wish you knew you're that you're gonna You should know this stuff, Rachel. I know. You know what? I wish you knew that you were going to quiz me on this

because I think it sort of changes over time. But I have a, you know, password, I guess. That's true. That allows me to read my colleagues. And we have a very good research system which allows us all to research back through our colleagues work and our own work and that too so the uh oh by the way uh globe and mail uh reporter david schultz is on friday oh yeah shout that out since we're talking global

male sports here but i'm talking some leaps okay we're gonna be talking well i had scott moore here last week yes so we're gonna talk about that because his book is all about hockey fight in Canada. It's all about that. Rachel, this is a tough question, but you're getting the hard ones here because you're still down here. Don't you have one first? I'm going to relax. I have my stuff.

No, no, no. G says, I'd be interested to hear Rachel's thoughts on the state of the globe sports section. Who is asking this? Like a listener? A person named G, yeah. Oh, G. G, just the letter G.

Okay. As you probably know, sports is now buried behind the biz section, and sometimes they don't have a single staff-ridden sports story in the paper. So that's the end of his question or her question. If you could share with me your thoughts on the state of the globe sports section. That's fair. Um, when I started at the globe, we had probably almost twice as many people as we have now as you like,

you know, we, we lost a lot of writers and didn't replace them. Um, so our focus is kind of on, you know, bigger pieces. Um, yeah, they, they move the the I think some people perceived the the sports section moving to the back of the business section as like doomsday or something and that's not the way it it read to me now I know I work inside the building so I'm going to hear the messaging there but um the messaging to me was like we're trying to be more efficient with the way we're designing the paper so why would we have so many leafy sections, like separate sections when we can combine it in? And then on the weekend we break it out.

And so on the weekend it gets its own section. And then during the week it's on the back of business. So we have to concentrate our efforts mostly on that big Saturday, um, paper and putting, you know, so we concentrate more on these bigger sort of bigger reads. Um, and those are more easily digestible and presentable on the weekends. Um, so during the week, you know, we are still looking for great content too, and covering news. Um, but that we just have more real estate to put them in on a weekend. But I can understand the frustration from a, from a reader who's like, where's my,

but I mean like tomorrow night we'll definitely have a, you know, something off the Raptors game and stuff like that. So it's not to say we don't have anything during the week. And can I get my publications all mixed up, but you guys, will you travel with the Raptors? Only the playoffs. Okay. Okay. All right. That's it. my publications all mixed up but you guys will you travel with uh the Raptors only playoffs yeah

okay okay uh-huh all right that's it and that's kind of coming across the industry like regular season travel is I know some papers can still do it but it's that's so costly like you're sending people to LA and yeah like I Like I noticed with McGran, right? Like, so they, they stopped at two for regular season, but they, they are starting to bring it back for some like Pittsburgh.

I think those kinds of things. Yeah. The big, the big ones where that makes sense. And we're, we're not even doing those ones in the playoffs. Like we'll, we'll go all hands on deck.

And like I was in Washington with the Raptors, like back and forth, back and forth. But I mean, you can, so I mean, the Raptors, like back and forth, back and forth. Um, but I mean, you can, so I mean, the Globe and Mail,

uh, you know, such an, we always thought when I was growing up, the Globe and Mail was like what the smart people read. Like we, we always thought like, I hope that's what we're still about.

Yeah. I mean, and I remember doing like a project in grade school. We were talking about, uh, the, like, oh,

the sun writes at a grade three level, or I'm making these numbers up. I can't remember the oh the sun writes at a grade three level or i'm making these numbers up i can't remember but the sun's at a grade three level oh the star writes at a grade six level but the globe mail is writing at a grade 10 level or something yeah because i mean you that we're told that like you of course we're not silly we know we have a big business audience right we have like ceos and a lot of bay street people and but we also want to appeal to what people are talking about at the kitchen table, too. So, you know, we're trying to tell different stories. But we realize we have a different readership.

But we are trying to sort of diversify. And we're told all the time to try and reach out to younger audiences. We know that's important. And, I mean, you're grappling with what all the newspapers are grappling with. And it's tied to why the Sports net magazine is uh no longer with us rest in peace but the uh trying to get the uh i don't know pandora back in the box pick your analogy or whatever but uh people got used to stuff being free on the internet and i think and as everything went digital i think it's tough to to uh and as i guess the advertising dollars all go to kind of digital and it doesn't pay nearly the same as it would pay when it was print advertising so you're all trying to like

figure this out i feel like we need to have like our business managers come in and talk to him would you like me to hook you up yeah i might need that okay so let me change the channel here let me change the channel my job description i'm just a curious cat i have questions but i also guess okay so you're both uh i couldn't help but notice i don't i don't normally see gender but you're both female uh just you don't see gender i do see gender special talents that's all i see i'm trying to see more than just gender. But I want to know, and this, Christina, we can start with you, because Rachel's been on the hot seat far too long.

She's so good on the hot seat, though. Not bad. Not bad. She did just pass me off to the PR rep or something. A little bit of a politician there. Here's the PR rep. Go talk to the public relation. She's a really nice person.

I want to know about women in sports journalism. So, is it, my question is, is it an equal playing field for a woman in sports journalism?

An equal playing field. In what sense? Do you feel at all like it's more difficult for you because of your gender and then, because it's historically been men-dominated.

I'm thinking back when I was a kid reading The Star. I get Mary Ormsby. Yes, she's fantastic. She's still fantastic. But there's these outliers, but it was always a bunch of men covering sports. Yeah, it largely still is a bunch of men covering sports, right? But is it more difficult to be a woman and cover sports

no no i would say emphatically no i would also say um for a woman to break into sports journalism it's probably easier for her than it is for a man because they're a dime a dozen um and i've had you know editors come over to me and ask, do I know any young women that are interested in said job? And I don't have a stable of females that I know that are... They're called a binder. A binder, yeah. Binder of women, I believe.

Here's my binder of women that only I have because I'm a woman. But this is interesting. It's almost like there is an attempt to diversify the roster. Absolutely, absolutely. is interesting it's almost like there uh is an attempt uh to diversify the roster absolutely absolutely and they'd be very attracted to uh non-white guys i would think would be uh a target and i was talking to my uh editor the other day we're hiring uh somebody in video production uh for the for dot ca um and i asked you, how many applications did you get? And he got like a couple hundred. Oh, how many of them were women? And that was, you know, maybe a dozen. Um, and he just said, I have a harder look at those. I look at those resumes, um, you know, with a keen

eye, let's say. Why aren't there more like what, what goodness knows we have, like, like we spoke at Ryerson, both of us a little while ago in that classroom was full of women, young women, many of them who continue to email us and ask us to look over their work. And why aren't there more resumes? I don't get it. Like I've, I've done stories on now the Raptors hiring women. I've done stories on, you know,

the efforts in the NFL to, to hire more women. And you hear this again and again, we're not getting enough resumes. We don't, we're not getting the resumes. And they, so these sort of extra steps need to be taken.

But they're in the school. Like they're getting to that level and then they're not getting to the next, the pool that you draw from. So I don't know if there's a misguided idea that it is harder because why, if you think that in your own mind, I wouldn't be accepted into that group of men or I don't want to be surrounded by men every day

or athletes aren't going to take me seriously, then yeah, you are going to go into the job with that kind of, those kind of results if that's the attitude you take into work every day we certainly like neither one of us go in with that mindset of i can't approach that athlete or i can't write as well as that guy like i didn't play in the nba but neither did any of the guys that i work with so why am i on it why yeah i think why are they any have a better understanding than I do? There's a worry too that's been expressed to me, maybe you too, from female students that they would have to kind of prove their knowledge. And is that do you feel that way because you're a woman?

Because that's ridiculous. And I've never not in however many years I've been doing this. I've never felt that from an athlete where I've had to justify the fact that I'm here asking you these questions. Um, that's never happened. Yeah. I don't think they look at us and think you, you don't under, you understand the game or the content of what we're talking about less than the guy that's beside you. Maybe if there's somebody who's been covering the year for the team for 20 years and you've been covering it for one or something for that reason they might but I don't and I think that the athletes we cover now are young for the most part you know young men who've come across female uh you know coaches and team therapists and nutritionists and coaches and like they're around more women than 20 years ago that athletes

would have been so um you just have to go in with the right attitude every day. And it's not something I ever think about on a daily basis, but when I was breaking in, when I was, you know, in journalism school, maybe I was thinking about it more, but not anymore. No, I have had instances where someone has said, uh, you're a mom, you understand this, or I sort of trust you with this subject matter, their content matter. Like I interviewed the kid of an NBA player one time who said, no way I'm letting a reporter

spend time with my kid. And then the PR guy said, oh, actually, you know, it's Rachel. She's a mom. Oh, okay. I feel a little more comfortable with that now. She'll be nurturing. Yeah. Or, you know, she's not a danger to let my child spend two hours during an mba oh yeah you

gotta watch out for these sports journalists so you know it so have we benefited from it in some cases maybe maybe sometimes or yeah well to build on what christina said it almost sounds possibly what do i know i never worked in sports media but you uh and i've also never been a woman so i'm out in both counts i'm out in both counts but christina what you said is like it almost sounds like there is potentially an advantage to not being a white guy, if I can say it that way. You're not a white guy, so there might be more doors even open to you right now in 2018. But I wondered, once you get in the door, like, advancing in your career at all, does being a woman hinder you at all in that regard? And here's where I'm going with this, and it kind of ties into your husband greg rachel because not him personally but where he works so

he works at the fan 590 and i've asked him this and i've asked i asked scott more of this the other day when he was here because he's the head he was the head honcho there but uh everybody who has a daytime radio shift at the fan 590 is a white guy all of them and there's i don't know that's 10 people or something i know they had the photo bugged me because it was the bob mccowan and it was the last supper and they're all there and it just it was like oh yeah there's 12 middle-aged white guys last time you saw like and i mean i you know i'm not every single day but when's the last time you saw oh certainly they had women guests for sure um and And Ashley fills in on some of those shows. But like,

do you see a lot of people like women coming in and sitting in one of those seats as a special guest host or, or are you talking about like a, like a prime time sports round table? Yeah. Like the radio shows, like Carolyn, like Carolyn.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I think there's a lot

she's been on prime time right yeah but it's it's very rare yeah i think she's been on prime time once maybe or twice no okay i remember when she made her prime time debut which was like only this past summer i want to say yeah but i feel like she was on there a handful of times but yeah you can count on on one hand should should and you guys, neither of you are on the radio, so I'm just asking you sort of as a woman in sports media, or maybe people, human beings in sports media maybe, but is it important that a station like 590, which is the biggest sports radio station in the city,

and that means it's the biggest sports radio station in the country, should their on-air talent during the weekday time be reflective at all of the city in which they represent, which is very diverse. Like Andy Petrillo, obviously, gets radio time for sure. Definitely. At 10.50. But yeah, there aren't a lot.

There aren't a lot, for sure. And I'd be curious to know on the hiring side if they don't have the resumes or they don't... Well, that's just our young woman looking at TV instead of radio or something like that. Even as an industry expert or an expert on a certain team, I get asked to go on TV a little bit here and there, like CTV or something like that.

But I mean, there are... I don't... You don't really necessarily see a lot of women beat reporters getting pulled in to do a, you know, a Friday sit in with a host on a, you don't.

But I feel like, I feel like I see it on American television. Why do I feel like I see an ESPN? You'll see, and they'll be asking hard hitting quite LeBron James, you know, for sure. They'll be asking the tough question.

They're in there, but here, the closest you get here in this country would be maybe a Cape Burness will be like the host that kind of introduces the TSN Raptor game. So you'll see her. Or previous guest. Cassie.

Cassie Campbell. Yes, Cassie. But I watch Leaf games and I never see Cassie Campbell. I don't know if she's out west or what. Maybe she's doing things. Yeah, yeah, in the west. Something like that. Yeah. I mean, there was a time where I could see Sofia Y Campbell I don't know if she's out west or what maybe she's doing something like that and I mean

there was a time where I could see Sofia Yurstukovic I butchered it again probably but I used to see her opening Hockey Night in Canada at 6.30

she would do like a half an hour but then she was I know she came in to tell you know oh we parted ways Roger Spurs and I parted ways

and I mean I asked her like would you love to have a spot like on the Fan 590 and she's like that'd be amazing like a dream you know so it's like I mean'd be amazing. Like a dream.

These are very small sample size things. Kayla Gray was on the show. I saw her do a Raptor game. She's starting to do a little more with TSN. I think she told me that she's the first woman of color to host a sports...

What do they call it now sports center whatever whatever they're calling it at tsn but like like right and that only happened recently like it's kind of nuts right yeah it's crazy that those firsts are happening now so i just wonder aloud if uh it's a level playing field that's all well i i think it has to start with like get yourself at that level right out of school. Because when you have two people graduating from school with the same education and all the same, like basically the same resume,

right? Like what, from there you have the opportunity to, to have everything that you're, that the guy beside you has, right? Like if you differentiate yourself from there, then that's different.

But why don't you? Like you and I were on the ice as much as anybody when we were kids, right? Yeah. Playing hockey. And like when you look at the sort of, like what does it come down to? Athletic career?

Because certainly plenty of our, you know, it shouldn't, but where does it come from? Passion for sports. No, come on. Freeman never played an NHL game in his life. I'll tell you right now.

Right. Like, so you find a way to be an expert, right? You didn't have to have laced them up or done whatever, but we certainly put in our time being as passionate about sports as young people, um,

as anyone else did. Um, but it comes down to storytelling anyway. Like it doesn't. Well, okay. as passionate about sports as young people as anyone else did. And it comes down to storytelling anyway. Exactly. Okay, so Christy, do you have any aspirations or desire to be either on the radio or on television? Is this at all in your desire list? I mean, the top of my desire list has always been writing. I've never thought of myself as a

radio star. Well, you know, I have like a cartoonish voice. I don't know if you noticed. I have noticed, of course, because you're in my headphones. But I like different voices. So it was never something I even thought about. Yeah, I'm not ashamed of it or anything,

obviously. I could have gone and changed it or something. Well, I'm ashamed of mine. My mom offered me, do you want to go to a speech therapist when I was younger? And it or anything, obviously. I could have gone and changed it or something. Well, I'm ashamed of mine. My mom offered me, do you want to go to a speech therapist when I was younger? And I was like, why? I don't know. Yeah. So your voice, it's higher than they want on the radio?

I don't know. I don't know. I always assumed. And in fact, I went to Western for journalism school. And the radio teacher was like, what is up with your voice? And was trying to make me speak in a lower tone and that's when I was like,

I don't want to put on like a, it's cold. I'm not going to do that. You know what you can do? If you start smoking, honestly, if you smoke,

pack a day. Gare Joyce, who I think you know, told me to start smoking. Do I know Gare Joyce? Yeah. He did stand-up comedy at the second

Toronto Mic Listener Experience at Great Lakes Brewery just in September. Oh, he did? David. He did stand-up comedy at the second Toronto Mic Listener Experience at Great Lakes Brewery just in September. Oh, he did? David Schultz was the opening. Oh, my gosh. So David Schultz did stand-up. He must have been so funny.

Dear Joyce closed to do stand-up. We had a live band and everything. And now that I know you're in the junction, the next Toronto Mic Listener Experience, you're going to be invited

to come make an appearance. Oh, sounds great. I'm not even going to invite Ray because that drive would kill her. Ray, no, she might be fine. Go train. Go train. I do work even going to invite Ray because I'd drive and kill her. Ray, no, she might be fine. Go train. I do work down here, people. Come on.

So to answer your question, really, I've always just been very focused on writing. And if the other stuff happens and I do work for a company that encourages that, then sure. But I never had aspirations to be on TV or to be on the radio or even this podcast. Can I ask you, do you have any previous podcast experience?

Yes. I was on the Steve Dangle podcast. He's been on this show. He likes jump cuts. And it was really fun. Yeah. But other than that, I feel like this could be my second. Did he give you beer?

No. I got zero gifts. We have, however, trying to get Christina. Sometimes I used to write her scripts. Remember that? Oh, yeah. I used to write her scripts, and I'm like, just read this. You're auditioning.

Turn me into a cartoon. Because don't you think she should be on a show like she could do a character? Yeah, no doubt. You could be a voiceover actress. You know, I do have an agent who I call secret agent Donna, but I haven't gotten any gigs yet. I'm a terrible agent.

But when it happens, oh my God, it's going to be on, she's going to be on every TV show. It'll be pretty funny. I think back in the day, back in like the 70s

and 80s, it was important that radio people had to have a certain voice and tone. Yeah. For sure. But I feel now

the key is authenticity and a voice like yours is actually, as a listener voice and tone for sure. But I feel now the key is authenticity. And a voice like yours is actually, as a listener, like it's interesting. Like I find it, I like, I actually work with you,

man. I love it. I'm a little biased because I have a terrible voice for radio, which is why I podcast. But I think that nowadays this is the, so that's what I mean. You just said you have a terrible voice for radio. How do you think I feel, man?

But I also, I meant that's what i felt in 1985 it's all changed now now yeah now it's fine i guess i i just say all this to explain why it never occurred to me in school that i might want to pursue this when the radio teacher was like what's up well now there's no follow-up question for you oh no i because you did but what about you like what about you? Do you ever thought of it? No, not really I mean, I like to sound off on stuff for sure

I could almost see myself Like if I was in TV or radio I would love to be behind Like the one calling the guests And doing documentary crews, doing the interviews behind. You could do it all. That's the thing.

That's true. The world is changing. Who do you think booked you guys? I did that. I didn't have any people. I know. I closed all these deals with the sponsors.

Oh my gosh. I bought this equipment. I'm engineering. Very versatile. On that note, nowadays, can you just be, are you allowed to just be an author now?

Like it feels like now you got to do a whole bunch of other stuff. Not, you can't really. I mean, especially at Sportsnet, it was, Scott Moore once said to me, you're not that valuable to me if you can only be on one platform.

And I almost cried. I was like oh but this is my favorite platform breaking news scott moore made christina cry yeah oh man um so yeah i i think you can but it's it's tough right but i look at people like steven brent and i wish he wrote more you know as he's great on tv he's amazing on the radio but i feel like it takes away from the reason that steven brent everybody knows why steven brent is so great right he started as a writer and now he still writes obviously but we always talk about like we need more brunt on the website

i don't want to make him do like extra work he's too busy in newfoundland he organizes a uh yeah the writing yeah the right the music i want to go to that. So do I. Let's all go together. You know what? When Greg and Hepsi are on their trip. Oh, yeah. We'll leave your kids. We'll all go. All of your children can take care of one another.

Right. But your kids are older. Can't your kids take care of themselves? How old is the oldest kid? Twelve. Well, that is a young guy. You shouldn't leave them alone while you go off to Newfoundland with me and Christina. Come on. Someone's going to look after that guy. you go off to Newfoundland with me and Christina. Come on.

Someone's going to look after that guy. We would really take Newfoundland by storm. I do. Right? George Street? Look out. Oh, no. Seriously, I'm down with this idea.

Let's talk offline about this. Perfect. Yeah. Perfect. So, Hebsey, you're going. Stephen can't wait to have us. Hebsey, you and Greg are going off now to your little London adventure. Well, Ray and Chris and I

are going to Newport. Yes. Love it. For sure. Now, so, and Ray, you two, how important, like, do you guys have your bosses telling you to up your social game? Like, do you have to tweet more or anything of the social media?

You guys maybe have a little bit more of that than i feel like at first yeah we were encouraged to tweet out our stories and retweet and support all things sports net i often forget to do that but i do too yeah um some people are on twitter you know all the time 24 hours a day um everyone's different with this like schultz at the Globe and Mail. I know he tweets a lot because he's always kind of tweeting, but he's also testing out new stand-up comedy routines, I think. He's insane.

What was it? Oh, yeah, we just had the Toronto election, as you might know. It was more in Toronto, but all these municipalities just voted in Ontario here and then I can't remember some reporters were talking about they were up late

and the order had they had food brought in and this late deadline or whatever. Pretty epic tweet. Yes. And then Schultz made some tweet

about how that's every day for a sports writer and no one buys him the dinner or whatever. Every day there's a deadline. This just happened. It's true. World Series ended last night.

Like somebody had to put that story together by a deadline or whatever. I know. That 18 inning game the other day oh my gosh i get the hives even staying awake like i was done after the night my last episode was with a guy named lou skizes who gets up he gets up early he's an early riser he woke up before that game he woke up for the day before that game ended yeah same double game by the game. By the way, I have been to an 18 inning Blue Jay game. Oh yeah.

I was at an 18 inning Blue Jay game in the last five years. And you stayed? Oh yeah, to the final out. How did you get home? We biked. How many people were left? Not that many. Because we were down there's two things going on. There's two stories that were merging.

The 18 inning game, yes, very long. I remember now, my brothers and my oldest, we went because I was getting married and we went to the Blue Jays game. One of my brothers didn't make it. I think he was out after nine innings or something. He didn't make it. I think after nine innings,

he got a little antsy and he's like, peace, I'm out. Three of us were left. One was dependent on me to get home. I think after like nine innings, he got like a little antsy and he's like, peace, I'm out. And then that was that. Three of us were left. One was dependent on me to get home. So that was my son, James. He wasn't going anywhere. But yeah, we stuck it out.

We stuck it out. Yeah. Wow. I've been through lightning delays at like football games. Oh God, that's terrible. Because that game's going to finish. Like if they've started it

and you'll be there forever. And then it's a weird feeling I feel like I always get if I'm covering a game that goes long like I almost don't want it to end because I don't want to have to file my story and then I'm like these things are working against each other I need to just I should hope for this to end so that it can be over and I can write

but then I'm like I'm so tired I can't write maybe I'm not good at my job I don't know Now so you're not getting the pressure to do the social Christina might be but she's and then I'm like, I'm so tired. I can't write. Maybe I'm not good at my job. I don't know. Now, so you're not getting the pressure to do the social. Christina might be, but she's not doing it. We'll talk about that later. But what about things like taking your own video? Because we all have a video camera in our pocket now. We have a microphone and a video in our pocket now.

Who would have thought that back in the day? I feel like it used to be a writer road i could see them on the typewriter and they wrote their story or whatever and now you're taking video you're getting audio some people are tweeting uh maybe posting to instagram or facebook or what else is that snapchat who knows uh but it just i was always curious because like scott moore said to you christina like you your value is not, if you're just writing. You're useless to me. Scott.

I haven't done any of the like going to a scrum with a, we usually have a TV camera in these scrums. So if I have my iPhone, it's probably some terrible quality right there. But I like that too. It's authentic. That's true. Blair I like that too. It's authentic. That's true. Blair Witch Project type stuff. But a lot of like CP reporters,

I admire them. They do all the things. They've got the camera. They've got the recorder. They file before us. You know who started that? It was the old Moses City TV back at 299 Queen.

They always had the, they would send the videographer out to do the story. And do everything. And they would get a reflection on like a had the, they would send the videographer out to do the story. And do everything. And they would get a reflection on like a car window where they would be shooting themselves

holding the camera back like a mirror. And how much of it is valuable? Like that, how much of it is actually value added? Because sometimes I like see somebody,

like this is my favorite one. When someone takes a photo of a press conference and they're like, here I am, just live as Masai Ujiri is speaking to the press. No, there's no value. one when someone takes a photo of a press conference and they're like here i am just live as masai ujiri is speaking to the press no there's no value what's the value of that photo long ago really gonna do with that long ago executives confused noise with value yeah so i

think right now what they really are saying i believe if i may speak on their behalf is that they want you to make more noise and noise means like multiple channels action like movement action like i know could be wrong but i feel like that's the uh that's the uh the other thing i don't like and i think like when i would be in doing casey's press conferences in in prior years uh i could see him sort of bristle at when people would literally be tweeting. He would say, you know, Fred Van Vliet's not going to go tonight. And people would immediately take their eyes off what he's saying and tweet it out.

And like, who's he even talking to at that point? Like nobody will be like looking at him. Everyone's just tweeting it out. And I'm like, I refuse. Like I absolutely refuse to do that. like if someone's speaking to us.

Yeah, but you know why they're doing that, right? Because let's say I'm a Raptor fan and I follow, let's say I follow 12 different people who cover the Raptors in various, you know, companies or whatever. It happens all the time.

It just happened with Austin Matthews. They announced Austin Matthews is out four weeks, right? This is huge news, right? Minimum. I can show you my Twitter timeline, but boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And they're all like, they can't afford to be 10 minutes late. You can't have a shower. Do you think more of the first person, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Like they're all like, can't afford to be 10 minutes late.

You can't have a shower. Do you think more of the first person that tweeted that out, the first person, as soon as that was out of the mouth, or do you think of the person that gave context to it a little while later and wrote the best story about what it meant? Maybe you can do both. I don't know. Yeah. And some people can, but I just, I don't know, maybe I'm a little bit of an old soul in that

way, but I, I like to listen to the people. Well, you're substance over style, but I don't know if that's existing. Yeah, you might be right about that. Now I do love to work with like a photographer, videographer, like on a big story. We did one a little while ago to a boxer who was training to go and fight in Las Vegas and we followed him around and I had a photographer doing photo video. We were doing all that on social and stuff. I love those projects that pull it all together in a very professional

looking way. And that doesn't have a bunch of useless. I'm not opposed to that. Do you get your hands dirty and all the parts or are you just focused on the words? In those cases, we work really collaboratively. I mean,

I'm the author of the story, but at the same time I'm, I'm helping with. So you're kind of the producer of the story but at the same time i'm i'm helping with so you're kind of the producer of the piece a little bit i mean obviously you have someone who totally knows what they're doing on the photo and the production side but you try to work together and those are those are really the pieces where like when you really get to work nicely with a photographer on something and like we've done a time that we did a time lapse video at bmo field over five weeks one time and talked about everything that was happening when it went from football playoffs

to soccer playoffs to the centennial classic and that was one of my favorite projects because you got to like totally give the sights and the sounds and watch it all together and that was a super collaborative piece between me and a photo a photographer vide Christina, can I ask you about Level the Playing Field, The Past, Present, and Future of Women's Pro Sports. Wow, you did some research. It's a long title, by the way. I know.

I didn't choose it, but I like it. I like it, but yeah. What is that? That's a book. It's a book, yes. I wrote it, how many years ago now? It's way back a bit, yeah. but it's your most recent book is that fair definitely fair thank you for pointing out you hardly write books but it's true but you wrote

a book which is how many people have written a book i've ever written um i don't know not as many as you think a lot of my colleagues are always writing books so um but yeah i wrote it a couple years ago it was published by owl you maybe read yeah yeah chickadee first and then exactly yeah um so yeah it was a fun project i interviewed pro athletes at the start of each chapter and kind of got into the history of women in sport and where we are now where we need to go the differences in money and exposure and and all those things i uh which is very good i never wrote a book no books written by me ray have you written any books no so christina has a speed collaborate we'll just we'll write

about that newfoundland and then self-publish yeah It's perfect. Oh, yes. Yeah, absolutely. So, but you cover a lot of women's sports. Like you'll cover hockey. You cover women athletes, you cover. I do. And it's funny because my job is, I'm a features writer. So you pitch whatever you pitch. But I do find I'm often the person in the room,

more often than not, that's pitching stories about women. I don't know why, but, um, yeah, there are no brainers to me as to, uh, athletes that we should be profiling. Uh, I did a feature on Kia nurse not too long ago. Um, and yeah, it was so interesting. I saw my first live WNBA game in New York in Westchester in this old kind of theater, and it was packed with people. They're wearing seafoam green. That's the Liberty's colors.

They were playing basketball in the theater? Yeah, so it's a concert hall slash basketball. Okay. Yeah, multi-purpose. Sure. In a kind of little community, so you got all these kids showing up in their jerseys getting autographs before and after and kia nurse is you know one of the most i

think dynamic personalities i've ever seen just watching her warm up and she's like singing high-fiving kids signing stuff um joking around with her coaches, dancing to music. Like she literally was lip syncing for the entire warm up. She was a delight to write about. And the one thing that I spoke to her about was that, you know, I'm not going to write about your brother, her brother, Darnell Nurse. And I'm not going to, I mentioned him and I talked about her childhood, but I didn't at any point like compare what they make because what's the point of that and she talked about how

almost every story written about her has something about she doesn't have the luxuries of her brother like they don't make the same amount of money it's not the same and yeah we just kind of talked about how I don't know pointing that out every single time you write about her is not, this is a story about her, you know? So that was a fun one. There's so many women athletes that when we do write about them, and maybe we see it a little bit more because we do cover a lot of women's stories,

is that we constantly want to point out the men that have done something for this. And it somehow validates it if you had a brother in the nhl and you play hockey or you trained every summer with this nhl player or you you know had some connection your dad was a coach or whatever like we we often do that um like so much try reading a brooke hend Henderson story without seeing a mention of her dad. Oh, yeah. She can't. The other good example is maybe even like Penny Oleksiak.

Yeah. Because, you know, and her brother plays for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Yeah, quite sure she did that on her own. Penny Oleksiak, by far, you know? But I agree with you, but Kia Nurse is a good example. That's, Kia Nurse,

that's an athlete that deserves coverage. Absolutely. Yeah. But here's,'s okay here's what my concern is this uh when mcgrann told me he's only writing about the four leafs okay and then he said cfl it's like an echo chamber because nobody seems to care in toronto to write about the cfl i'm willing to bet the appetite for CFL dwarfs the appetite for woman basketball like I'm just saying like from a masses like I'm not speaking on behalf of myself necessarily but I like maybe the reason no one's pitching the story is these important interesting stories that should be told and good on you for pitching them and writing them but maybe they're not being pitched because it's a self-fulfilling prophecy they're not being pitched because to write them is it's not going to get the clicks or the views or the eyeballs or whatever measures

success in 2018 but the thing is that often and we get the metrics every day we get an email saying this is how many um these are the top 10 stories this is how many clicks they got and like that kia nurse story was the top story on our website that day. Well that's significant. I wouldn't have guessed that. And a couple days earlier I wrote about Hayley Wickenheiser being hired by the Maple Leafs. Now like a Maple Leafs sneezes. But that one has a leaf story. That's like the top story.

But that again was one of the top stories on our. And I think in large part like if we're only focusing on four Maple Leafs I don't know. I think that's a bit of a disservice. Totally. Right? in large part, like, if we're only focusing on four Maple Leafs, I don't know. I think that's a bit of a disservice.

Totally. Right? Of course. There are other stories. Of course. There are tons of other stories and if we're not writing them because we don't think

they're going to be as popular as Austin Matthews, I mean... How much can you say about Austin Matthews? That's the thing, right? I suspect if you were to like... I think it's a disservice

to the public. You do a big article just on separated... I don't even know if it's a separated shoulder, but it's a shoulder injury. Yeah. Separated shoulders and what the professionals discuss how quickly they can heal. 10 million clicks.

And can you just slip in the opening sentence just has to be, Austin Matthews has a separated shoulder. We went to the experts to ask them about the healing process. I'm telling you, the appetite for that I, would be very high. Huge. Yeah, but we can do both,

right? Like, we can do both. You need to do both. Yeah. I think that's the takeaway. You can't stop writing about Kia Nurse because people, it's in these important stories. I hate it when we confuse, like, we're confusing, like, popularity with quality. Like, this happens

sometimes in music music like that old jazz musician like there's so such amazing musician and such great work compared to like an ariana grande like it's you know it's like like are you just going to air like you're not going to pay attention to the blues musician because ariana grande has mass appeal on a whole different level like it just seems like there's room for both yeah absolutely i think that's it there's another way to look at like that hayley wick and i story is another great example um so you know she gets hired by the maple leafs and i can't tell you the number of people that i heard react to it in a way of oh look at the leafs being so diverse and so forward thinking one of the greatest hockey players in history they're doing

you know giving like saying that it's almost like a like the inference that it was that it's some sort of publicity type motivated thing how about thinking differently here's a woman that became the best female hockey player in the world with a quarter of like just a fraction of the resources that some men would have to to be the top of their category in sport and she found a way and not only did she like she trained with different athletes in different genre like remember she trained with Patrick Chan one summer like who thinks of that right she trained she was invited to train with NHL players she played in Sweden men's hockey. She did things differently. Yeah, maybe Caldwell does want to tap her brain

and say, how did you do this stuff? How did you think of this stuff? Not like, is there a woman we could hire? I highly doubt that he was saying that. And I can't believe it took that long. This should have happened years ago. I really wish it wouldn't be dismissed as they just wanted to put a woman in the department.

Not that everyone's doing that, but I've definitely heard that line of thinking. Let's start small. Let's get a woman on the Fan 590 first. Let's just bite off something we can chew. Ashley Dawkin. Well, you know, you keep talking about Ashley Dawkin. Sometimes she comes in and subs probably

like a pay-as-you-go hourly wage or whatever. And Sherry Ford. Again, I'm talking about like from your husband's shift to Bobcat's shift. Right. This is the daytime lineup. There's no one full-time. And you mentioned Andy on the other station. I don't know which ratings aren't as good.

I bet you Greg mentioned that. He likes to go off on TSN. What do you think? Do you ever say, hey, hubby, like maybe you don't need to go to Twitter and go off I bet you Greg mentioned that. He likes to go off on TSN. What do you think? Do you ever say, hey, hubby, maybe you don't need to go to Twitter and go off on the 1050 like that.

It can't be a wise thing to do. He's not listening to me. Come on. He's going to listen to me. He's got his own mind on the Twitter sphere. I mean, the fan finder had a big head start,

first of all. I'm not saying it shouldn't be closer at this point, but they did get decades head start. Okay. So,

and I listened to 590 because that's what I listened to in 1993. That's how awful crazy. Change is hard. Change is hard. I can't, where's 1050? I don't even, do you have dials anymore? Why am I doing this?

I would even take it one further. How often are, how often are they talking about women's sports? I don't know. Only at Olympics and Olympics and if there was a world cup of hockey tennis for sure and a little bit of golf if we have a brook or somebody has helped yeah but it's got to be a major figure pushing the sport and exactly yeah it's not just like yeah

like it's not like is it in the like how many if the if you really looked at the lineup every day of like you know the typical show day of, like, you know, the typical show. And that goes for, you know, these highlight shows, too. Yeah. How often are women in there? You're going to put World Series. What's the Canadian connection there? Right.

Like, you know, like, if you're really boiling it down to that, well, there's nothing Canadian, and, you know, so we're not going to play the Wimbledon highlights or whatever. You're going to play Wimbledon. Canadian and you know so we're not going to play the Wimbledon highlights or whatever then you're going to play Wimbledon but I'm just saying unless it's like there's a top starring Canadian on a women's side you're not going to see it

Jenny Bouchard makes some comeback and is back in a semi-final or something like there has a run at O-Major or something like that. Yeah and then she'll get ripped in the comments for not focusing on tennis and she's too much into modeling or something like that. Yeah. And then she'll get ripped in the comments for not focusing on tennis and she's too much into modeling or something

and then you have to remind yourself. This is a horrible world we live in, okay? Don't read the comments. It's a terrible, terrible place. Don't read the comments. I guess you're just to fire us up about these things.

Yeah. Is there any appetite? Because I've had, I'm going to let you in on a little private discussions I've been having the last couple of days with Scott Moore, okay?

So we've been chatting. Oh, he's in Australia. Well, he might be in Australia, but he's DMing me on Twitter as recently as today. We're going back and forth because we have this idea for a panel.

I would bring in a fourth mic, so it would be me plus three other people here discussing diversity in Canadian sports media. And Scott Moore is one of the people. And then I had to fill the other spots. I have some ideas. But would this be of interest?

Like, would this is a good idea? I think, I feel like that would be like, it would be a good discussion to kind of put this out there and really talk about this with some people that aren't like Scott and I, which are white men. Like maybe the other two are not white men. Are they, I mean, what is the out the out you know the out game of this well kayla gray again i'm gonna drop her name because she put this in my head because we were chatting

and she said that canada had a uh diversity problem in sports media like this is her opinion and she felt as a as a black a woman of color uh she felt it was very difficult for her to break through and she had to work twice as hard and she had some strong opinions on this uh so i feel like if we got the decision maker he's not there anymore and that's why he's willing to do this i think but uh the guy who was making the decision more interesting right so he'll be here and he's you know know, he's already in on this idea. He's got a very brief window

between Australia and him moving up to like Thornbury. Like there's a, there's this wind, very small window. Like it's, let's come together

in early December if this happens. But I'm trying to like, I'm trying to make this kind of happen and move the pieces and make, get the right people

in the seats or whatever to have a, like an honest discussion. And I just would be like a moderator guy or whatever because what value would i add but talk about do we have a diversity problem when it comes to uh canadian sports media well and he was one that like i interviewed him for a story last year when um he put there was an all-female broadcast crew doing the clerks and cup final last year um and i think that was like one of the first times that they've had women doing the play by play for a women's hockey. And I mean, come on, like who knows it

better than, you know, some of the, some of the, of these women, of course you're, you should have that. Um, but that's the problem I think that they maybe need to solve there is, you know, these last, um, positions that kind of, whether it's sports radio play by play head coaching and you know there's kind of these ones that are like okay women are getting in all the other positions but not those ones you know like they're the last ones left but in america they try this i hear women calling what basketball maybe i'm doing nfl nfl like there's definitely like i know that they have 10 times the people and stuff like that,

but it just seemed like there is, I can't even, I'm sure it's never happened because I would know if it had happened, but in the major sports, there's never been

a female call a game yet in this country, if you can name it. No, not. Carolyn called. Carolyn called some Davis Cup tennis. Some tennis.

I mean, I guess I mean, hockey. Hockey, yeah. Leah Hextall called the CWHL final last year, but men's hockey. And then what are we... Are we talking about men's hockey

that they're not calling men's sports? And it's a tough one because they've got to... I think there's a sense in the play-by-play world certainly that you've got to have paid your dues right whether that's calling calling games in the ohl or calling games and you don't start at the queue or whatever right so why aren't we pushing women through those channels if you want to call a game on a hockey night in Canada, come out of school and get your ass in the OHL or whatever, right? Start calling college hockey. Start

working your way through the ranks. You start with CIAU. Is that what they still call it? The Canadian University and then you work for it. It's not CIAU anymore? What a great avenue, right? If that's what you want to do. Right. I think the best part is that we're talking about this so much more.

I remember when Sportsnet published a picture of our baseball coverage, and it was like 14 white men. And Hazel May was away, so she wasn't in the picture. Arash Medani is not a white man. That's true. I don't even know that he was in the picture. Maybe he was, and maybe it was just, it was all men. But I know your point is totally valid anyway.

And we got torched for that. And, you know, I'm kind of glad because I don't know if these discussions were happening five years ago, but it seems like we're talking about this more and more. And there's definitely, there is a lack of diversity. There absolutely is. That's why, you know, editors are coming over to us and asking us do you know anybody that could that could fill this position like any women or right yeah it's a it's a good time now we see i mean they when they made the uh the speaking of schultz's book and

the great uh greg greg moore he's no longer with his great more but uh scott moore like we uh when strombo was relieved of his duties and mclean came back well then they mclean wanted to do the hometown hockey so they needed another mclean if you will like when mclean goes and to make his trip whatever and dave amber like you so you that's not a white guy like so that's so we are seeing some yeah absolutely small progress there baby steps baby baby shark i know Baby, baby shark. I know that one. Baby shark. I hear it a lot. Yeah, yeah. And then every time the daddy shark comes on, my two-year-old,

Daddy, it's you! It's you! And I have to go to the TV and see it's me. It doesn't even look like me. That's going back a good ten years from now. I guess Christina's like, what? Yeah. It's ever, it's coming to clubs. You go clubbing? Oh, of course. course no they actually have like a club remix of the baby shark song that they play at like dance clubs i didn't know that

yeah i'm here to educate you so uh hebsey wanted to know if kawaii leonard is better or worse than they thought when it comes to quotability, approachability, likability? Oh, that's a good one. Good question, Hamsi. I would say he makes himself rather difficult to interview because he takes an extremely long time to come into the locker room and speak to us. So that's one thing. You'll be like,

why haven't I seen so many quotes from Kawhi? So that's one reason. When he does come in front of us, he, I would say he's better than, like just from the reports that I sort of heard, I think he's better than I had been warned he would be. I think that first example of the press conference he did. Oh, when the laugh went viral? When the laugh went viral.

I didn't like that. That was terrible. I thought that was mean. This guy's notorious for not enjoying talking to media and then we mock his laugh. Yeah, I didn't like it. I didn't like it. I didn't participate in mocking.

You don't know, so I really don't. I think there was a lot of emotion tied up in people and DeMar DeRozan leaving because he was really good with the media, like very, always really expansive and good-natured. And so people thought of that as a direct quote trade, like, no, we're getting rid of DeMar. Like, that doesn't seem fair.

But I find you don't need to necessarily be a good quote. You can still be super interesting. Like, I actually find OG Ananobi super interesting just from observing him, but he doesn't say much at all. And I also just, when people have this idea that this guy's quiet, he's going to be terrible or doesn't mean he's not worth getting to know and like he can still be super interesting without having to say a lot you just have to find creative ways to to write around him um sometimes but um

but yeah it's not going to maybe come right out of his mouth right away who knows maybe he'll maybe he'll really start to like us. We're so insecure. Maybe he'll like us enough to stick around. Oh my goodness. Lucky you though that you actually get to cover this team because there's so many fascinating angles for this team. That trade, which as a Raptor fan

I'm in favor of this trade because it made us better, which is like I just want to win a championship. Did you feel like that the day that DeMar got traded? No, the first, I feel like everyone's all of a sudden flip-flopping on this. I think initially you're very emotional because of how damn loyal DeRozan was to this team. And then it just,

there was some suggestion that he was promised by Messiah that he would not be traded. Like this whole floating around. So it just seemed a little bit like, I don't know like a game of thrones backstabbing whole like schema thing and so you kind of have you're dealing with that and then you kind of have to let that emotions go away and then you kind of look at well what just transpired and then you start to look oh kawaii leonard is now a toronto raptor and you realize we're better today than we were when we lost the calves last season and then you are warm to this trade. And then you're... Oh, yeah. The other thing is you're convinced in your mind that he's going to LA after this one season.

So you're thinking all this. We get one year. The window's one year. You have to kind of come to grips with the fact. Well, it's going to be a hell of a fun year. It's 6-0 to start. And I know Kawhi's not playing tonight, right? Enjoy it while I...

But neither is the Greek, right? Okay. I'm sorry. Enjoy it. Yeah. I mean, enjoy it while well I think people are trying pretty hard at the games like I the MVP chance started on like night one or night two I'm like easy people um his his ovation when he was introduced the first time was one hell of a roar like it was I haven't quite seen anything like that and i don't know how he perceived that if that was more or less than what he might have thought might happen but um i think maybe he maybe he's uncomfortable with that level of attention and stuff just because

you're a good basketball player that doesn't mean you have to love everything that comes with it right like well like kessel right kessel kind of like that absolutely yeah i wrote a story about him actually um i wrote it during the playoffs but we ran it just ahead of the season about how pittsburgh appears to be like the best situation for him not only because they're so good and he wins a. But he doesn't have to talk. Like, Sidney Crosby is sitting there, staring at his feet. Well, not always, but he's sitting there in his stall after every single game, and Phil Kessel can just disappear. I was at, I think, I can't remember what game it was against Philly. He scored his first goal of the postseason.

So I figured for sure they would parade him know, parade him out into the room. And the PR people with Pittsburgh kind of laughed when I asked to speak to him. And then they went and asked him and came back and said, no, he's not coming out. And I was like this. And they said, but we have lots of other scorers. And that kind of explains it, right? Like that's a perfect situation for him. He doesn't have to hide like he did in Toronto when he was the guy and he didn't want to talk. So I don't't know there's this presumption that if you're a superstar you have to act like one you know what i mean with the media and a lot of people are uncomfortable with what we're used to we're actually historically used to the best player being the captain like

this has always been the case from from gretzky to lemieux to you know now with crosby like this has always been the case like i don't know if we're used to like the star not being the uh like the mouthpiece captain like alpha male or whatever you want to call it in the room well i guess you think of it like how would you act if you had a whole bunch of cameras on you like would you really act like your exact self and not only are cameras on you the lights are insensitively right in your face. Like they don't care. I like a dark room. I try to get out of there.

You would not like to be quiet. Yeah, no, no. It would be awful. I often think about that when I'm like kind of being shoved in a scrum and there's 40 arms sticking out and all these microphones. Like what would it be like

to be the guy sitting here? It would be awful. I'd be trying to get out of there as fast as I could and just saying boring. Why would I ever try to be exciting? But he's been immersed in that environment for his whole life, right? It's a little different than dropping you in the pot of water.

No, that's true. But if you're uncomfortable with it, I don't know that more exposure is going to make it better. And if you're notorious for being a terrible quote, are you going to become a good quote? No, you're probably going to be anxious about it. Yeah, the temptation to make it difficult on people or make them want to go away from you is probably pretty high.

It's probably pretty tempting to be like, if I just act really bored, then they'll leave me alone. Or they're not going to want to wait around for me or whatever. I can see the motivations. Hey, do you want to hear a good tune, Christina? Do I ever? Feel free to sing along if you want. Oh my gosh, no.

But this is a great song. I'm not even going to talk. It's funny that you, like when I asked you what your favorite song was, you're like, boom, texting right back. Like there was no question this was a great song. I'm not even going to talk. It's funny that when I asked you what your favorite song was, you're like, boom, texting right back. There was no question this was her favorite song. We'll listen to it for a few seconds here before I hear the hard-hitting question about your love for this jam. To make love to me I've never been your beast, stupid

I've walked for miles My feet hurt All I want is for you To make love to me Am I hard enough? Am I rough enough? So, Christina, nine out of ten times when I ask this question, the answer is the song they loved when they were either a teenager or in their early twenties. Nine out of ten times when I ask this question, the answer is the song they loved when they were either a teenager or in their early 20s. Nine out of ten times.

Okay. That's not true for you. No. Unless you have amazing, like, youthful appearance, and you're really, like, 50 years old or whatever. No, I'm not quite 50. So my dad is a massive Rolling Stones fan, so I grew up listening to the Rolling Stones and oldies in general like if you asked me in grade four who's your favorite singer I probably

would have said the big bopper yeah Chantilly Lace yeah I pray face oh baby you know what I like yeah so we had these like epic mixtapes, road trips, you know. And my dad still has in his car, I made him like six Rolling Stones CDs while I was in university. It's all he listens to. My mom wants to kill him. That's amazing. But this song, I had never heard or didn't remember hearing until I worked at Woodbine Racetrack picking weeds. That's why the grounds look so lovely. They would not let me cut the grass because those machines were difficult to operate. But anyway, so I was in university, I guess, like first year university. I worked there

with a couple friends. Early shift. It was awful. But we were in this big van driving around getting dropped off and this came on and our boss started singing at the top of his lungs and I could not believe that I didn't know the song and I remember I got home and I was like dad how do I not know the song? Well it's later Stones. Yeah but still. Yeah yeah but it's not Hot Rock Stones. My dad's into like the Stones released a pretty bad in my mother's opinion blues album recently and it's all my dad's into like the stones released a pretty bad in my mother's opinion blues album recently and it's all my dad listens to really um so he's yeah he's exposed me to all of it basically but yeah okay do you know the name laura dyken yeah she went to my high school

i know this is gonna get weird ray this get weird. I'm just warning you, okay? She's a year younger than me, and we both went to Humberside. Yeah, so Laura Dykens' dad lives across the street from us right here. That's not even the story. That's just a fun little bonus fact. That's a bonus fact. But Laura Dyken came on, and we talked.

And beforehand, I did the same thing. What's your favorite song of all time? We'll play it. And she picked, I'm trying to remember which Stone song, but she picked an earlier Stone song, like a Hot Rock. I call it the Hot Rocks.

Do you know what Hot Rocks is? No. So this is the 1964 to 1971 greatest hits double album by the Rolling Stones. So I grew up with Hot Rocks. So all my Rolling Stones, Touchstone stuff,

if it was a Hot Rocks song, this Beast of Burden is post Hot Rocks. Yeah. But Laura Dykens' favorite song of all time and again it's similar to your age uh is uh let's spend the night together by the rolling stones okay which is like a like late 60s uh stone song but let's okay and why why laura young laura why

is this your favorite song because her on the car, her dad would put on like a hot rocks or stuff. And so I realized the nine out of 10, it's college. And the other one is because dad loved this or mom, I suppose. Yeah.

Yeah. It's like what you grew up with, right? What you were first exposed to. Yeah. I didn't ever like new kids on the block. I was into the oldies

like well into high school. I never got into popular music until I don't, I don't even know if I'm into it oldies, like well into high school. I never got into popular music until, I don't even know if I'm into it now, you know? Drake, just started listening to Drake. Pretty good. We just talked to Drake now. Pretty good. Isn't that funny?

Is this a men and women thing that you notice? Or only women say this? That it's like something their dad listened to. Small sample size, because again, nine out of ten are going to tell me, like if you are my age, you will probably pick a Nirvana song. It's like something their dad listened to. Small sample size. Because again, nine out of 10 are going to tell me, like, if you are my age,

you will probably pick a Nirvana song or a program. It seems like whatever you loved when you were like 18, for example. And I have a lot of sports media people here, like Steve Simmons, for example, who I was thinking about in my head when you were talking about Phil Kessel. That's what I was thinking about. Oh, yeah.

But like, people like that come in and kick out the jams. And they're all like, I'm going to say they're all like, I don't know, maybe mid fifties or like they all have a certain, and they all love Bruce Springsteen. Like they all do.

Oh gosh. That's a weird sports media thing. I don't get it. Brad Faye has seen Bruce Springsteen a hundred times. I know somebody in Detroit who had it in his contract that he had to go to every concert, like within a certain amount, he had to have the day off to go to every concert, like within a certain amount, he had to have the day off to go to that concert if it was.

Wow. Yeah. They just, yeah. And, uh, but yeah, the whole dad exposure.

So your story in Lord Diken, it's funny that you went to the same high school, like it's just a small world. I used to live like on a street that was like a one minute I could throw a rock and hit where Lord Diken lives today. But in her dad's across the street from me now. So that's like a weird coincidence too. Yeah, she's great.

I saw her do a couple of Raptor games and she was very good. And then she was gone, I guess. She's not doing Raptor games anymore. But she was good. Filling in for somebody in the world or something. Yeah. But yeah.

Oh, Rachel, I can't wait to hear your jam. Okay. Is it time? Because I did change. Okay, go ahead. He changed mine kind of. But yeah. Oh, Rachel, I can't wait to hear your jam. Okay. Is it time? Okay, go ahead. He changed mine kind of. But for good reason. Let's hear the story before you judge me. For good reason.

So I could not decide. I was not as decisive as you. So I suggested a couple songs for you. Remember? You texted me. You were terrible. I immediately wrote back Beast of Burden for me. And then she was like, I have to think about mine.

And then I suggested Genie in a Bottle. What else? Oh, that didn't make its way to me. But Ray's email to me had, I like calling you Ray, three songs? You've come around. At least three. So the one that you mailed me, it was three. I really had a hard time.

Probably this one, but it could also be this one and this one. Well, one of the this one or this ones is a song I said, if I can play that one, then I can promote something that's going to happen in this very studio next month. I have to tell you that the other one, so one of the ones I said is still the same by Bob Seger. And the reason this resonates so much now

is because I have the exact same nostalgic reaction to Bob Seger that you have with your dad in the Rolling Stones right like we always had that record like my dad and my mom both like had Bob Seger music that seemed in my mind I'm sure this is not 100% accurate but it was playing in the house and literally that album cover reminded me of my dad with the must like didn't every man in the 70s have like in the 80s have that mustache and the dark beard and everything and the but it transports me back to like my living room of of my childhood now i feel bad i took but this one has a different a completely different Now this one is back to the 19 and 20 year old I don't know your age

I don't know your age But I feel it's close to me Because of this choice That's why I think it's close to my age Let's play it and then we'll talk about it guitar solo I don't know where I'm going I don't know where you are tonight I don't know what I'm blowing I don't know where you are tonight I don't know what I'm blowing

And I ain't feeling all too right But I'm hanging around I'm hanging around You're hanging up the phone again I'm hanging up this town Cause I want you in I need you in I fucking love this. Great.

I'm telling you. Shakespeare, my butt yeah the whole thing i close every single episode of this podcast with a song from that album so this totally transports me back to like uh my freshman year at carlton i just like that whole song, no matter how many times I have listened to it repeatedly over the years, it still transports me back to like my residence room, Carleton University, first year. I think I traded this album with somebody, like the CD with somebody. I'm like, I really like that. Like someone's playing it on our floor.

And then I just listen to it nonstop for that year and for the rest of my life since. The reason I like this jam so much is because we haven't even got to it yet, but later with the Damn Damn the Circus dance. My favorite part's coming up. Yes, that's my favorite part. That's my favorite part.

Here we go. Here we go. This coin that reminds me of the time when you nearly kissed me blind on Baptist Hill 2. Yeah. And if you turn me down, I'll spin this coin around and I'll give it back to you. It's something, it's something I can't explain. Yeah. And if it's all the same to you. I'll bring it back. I know the part.

We're both into the damn, damn the circumstance part. It's coming up. We'll come back to it. I'll jam it. Everything I learned about you. Okay, so if you don't know, why would you know?

Ron Hawkins has been on here twice, but he's coming back again in November. Ron Hawkins is the lead singer of this band, Lowest of the Low. So this is Lowest of the Low. She doesn't know. That's fine. Do you know who this is? Toronto native? No? But she's only, I'm going to guess, your mid-thirties, right? Yeah. It's okay. I think it's okay.

It's not like... This is a bit of a university anthem. Yes. But if you weren't in university in the early 90s, you know... University in the early 90s. Yeah. You know. Damn, damn the circumstance. Well, my heart is aching. Damn, damn the circumstance. And my room is spinning, yeah. Damn, damn the circumstance.

It's great without you in it. Damn, damn the circumstance. Yeah, my bad luck's just beginning. Damn, damn the circumstance. Don't let me bleed again tonight. Damn, damn the circumstance. Don't let me bleed again tonight. Damn, damn the circumstance.

Don't let me bleed again tonight. Damn, damn the circumstance. So they're coming on again. It's going to be Ron Hawkins, and he's bringing Lawrence Nichols, because Stephen Stanley's not in the band anymore. Although he's come on and kicked out the jams, because he has a solo band now from the Stephen Stanley band.

And Ron Hawkins has kicked out the jams, by the way. Amazing. He's amazing. But they play. They play in my basement already. Where are they set up? So the two of them come in, Lawrence Nichols and Ron Hawkins,

and one sits in these two seats. Wow. And it sounded really good, okay? They played a new song, but this time they said, they had a big box set. They got a big Shakespeare in my butt box set coming out. So they're like, hey, we'll come by.

And I said, okay, I want to have an in-depth discussion on how difficult it is to make ends meet as a musician in Canada when you're a Canadian musician. I want to have a heart on this. I've heard enough horror stories. And then I said, can you play live? And they said, okay, we'll play.

And I said, okay, but it has to be something from Shakespeare in my butt. So they're going to play something from Shakespeare in my butt in my basement in November. And my buddy Andrew Stokely, who's a big Lois the Low freak, heard they were coming on and he's like, I don't even let this ever happen. I never let people come in and watch, but I'm going to let them sit on the bottom of these stairs while Lois did the lower.

Well, I'm going to tell you that next time I see one of these, like I'm on the Facebook group, I've never seen them. Okay, that will surprise you to know. So I've never seen them. They do a lot of shows. Yes. They do a lot of shows. Yes, they do a lot of shows.

And I didn't live here for a long time, remember. But also, I don't have a network of people that know them. But I feel like now I know someone. Yeah, because first of all, you're married to a guy who thinks it's 1984. Yeah, yeah. Like, let's be honest. Like, I kicked the jib of him. And I like him.

I feel like I've done a lot of his shows. So maybe he owes me. But he let's be honest. Like, I kicked the jibs of him. And I like him. I feel like I've done a lot of his shows, so maybe he owes me, but... Yeah, he's... He wouldn't appreciate it. Christina's like, who is this? This band is too modern for Greg. Yeah. Because they're from the, like, 1990.

Yeah. You know? But seriously, I'll tell you something offline when we finish recording that will excite you and blow your mind and all these wonderful things, but I can't say it on the air yet

because I'm not allowed to talk about it, so I have to tell you after. But it's going to basically enable you to enjoy Lowest Step and Low Live, and we'll talk about it when I finish recording here. Any final thoughts? By the way, love your jam. I guess that goes without saying.

I love your jam too. No. I really like that song. The Stones are a big- time fucking rock and roll band. What did you think we would pick? Like, do you, when you ask people like about their favorite song,

like, do you have your mind? Like, are you surprised? Well, sometimes like, sometimes I have a hint. Like with Mike Wilner,

for example, I had a hint. and then Greg Brady had a hint. Sometimes I have a hint. I had no idea of either of you. No clue. You don't really know us. Could be a jazz standard. Like you could have come in here and I could have heard Britney Spears. I had no idea of either of you. No clue. You don't really know us. Could be a jazz standard.

Like you could have come in here and I could have heard Britney Spears. I was going to go country actually. I've had that. But I'm more of a recent country fan.

And that's kind of the thing when you pick your jam. Like you want something that you know can stand up. I don't want to listen to this in three years and be like, I chose my church

by Maren Morris. But that's been kicked out on this show. Has it? It's a great song. I feel like Siobhan Morris from by Maren Morris. But that's been kicked out on this show. Has it? Yes. It's a great song. I feel like Siobhan Morris from 1010 maybe.

She was really good. Somebody like that. But somebody wrote for Chatelaine to Sarah Boesveld. Oh yeah. She's great. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. She wrote for her. She picked a country song? She picked a lot of country. Like she really liked it. But she picked the lowest of the low song too.

She might have picked Bleed a Little Wild tonight. Oh, okay. And she sang along with her jams and she picked a bob seger song i'm serious no way so you need to you need to hook up with yeah we should be like spotify uh friends or something something like that any final thoughts because i'm going to close this out with more lowest of the low uh but any any anything you want to share with the people uh massive audience listening to everything right now what do you want to share with the people? Massive audience listening to everything right now. What do you want to say? Watch more women's sports. Do you now want a job in radio?

Would you now aspire to have a job in radio after this? Yeah, this has opened my eyes. I told you your voice is cool. You too could have this set up in your basement. Oh my gosh, no. We can bike the city.

I have asbestos in my basement. I feel like you have gained a lot from coming here today. Like you got a biking ally, an invitation to Newfoundland, some beer. Yeah, that's true. But how do we pay

for this trip to Newfoundland? We haven't talked about that. I think Ray's got the most money. Maybe Stephen Brunt can pay for it. Maybe. He could at least have us stay with him.

By the way, if you're ever bored and you want to hear a great Kick Out the Jams episode, Stephen Brunt's Kick Out the Jams is an education. His tastes are very varied. Very can-con. The storytelling that would weave through there.

I'm going to listen to that. Ah, yes. I like how it's got the long instrumental at the beginning so I can do my little... So you only play from this one album. I think at the beginning Ron didn't love this because Ron thinks his new stuff is as awesome as his original stuff.

I can understand that. But Lawrence Nichols is more of a realist. So when they do concerts, and they do a lot, you should see them. Lawrence controls the set list, not Ron Hawkins, because Lawrence will make sure it's got bleed a little while. Maybe Henry needs a new pair of shoes, salesman cheats and liars.

There's all these songs that need, this song should close every single Lois and Lo concert. That's why it closes my podcast. And they disagree with you? Perfect. On that? Ron's warmed up to it.

He understands now that you got to give the fans what they want. Okay. Play the hits, damn it. Play the hits, yeah. And that brings us to the end of our 390-second show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike.

Rachel is at rbradyglobe. You should tweet more, by the way. Okay, I'll try. It's a message from management. Christina is at krrR. Rutherford. Do I have that right? Yeah. You should tweet more too.

Oh, okay. She tweets a lot compared to me. I do. I retweet. You retweet a lot. Other Sportsnet crap, but we won't learn your own original thoughts. Oh, boy.

Great Lakes Beer. They're at Great Lakes Beer. Propertyinthe6.com is at Raptors Devotee.otee so Brian I hope you enjoyed the Kawhi Leonard chat and Paytm is at Paytm Canada see you all next week I've been under my skin for more than 8 years it's been 8 years of laughter Well, you've been under my skin for more than eight years.

It's been eight years of laughter and eight years of tears. And I don't know what the future can hold or do for me and you. But I'm a much better man for having known you. Oh, you know that's true because everything is coming up rosy and green. Yeah, the wind is cold but the smell of snow won't speed a day.

And your smile is fine and it's just like mine.